Hadrian read through the little booklet with all the dirty laundry of one mayor Miz, and he chuckled every so often. The ledger of truth, indeed. He had been caught by Eddy as he was rummaging in the safe of the mayor, but not before he had managed to get the most hidden booklet in the entire safe.
Surely, that was what Ash wanted. He was an information gathering person in the thieves' guild. There was an entire department of paper pushers that never left the warrens. If they ever got found out, they would be the first to bite the dust.
But first, Hadrian was going to have his fun. He flipped another page and then something caught his eye. It was a receipt written down as research funds, but the things listed didn’t seem like anything that could be researched legally.
Condensed mana and blood, that was what mayor Miz had bought. Now, he was not a vampire, or a necromancer, so why did he do it? Hadrian dog-eared the page and flipped to the next one.
Consultant services from one Thorold Hafnon stared back at him. With the whooping price tag of one million gold coins. Hadrian pulled out a notebook and wrote down the numbers of the pages, both the receipt and the consultant note, and flipped the page.
The next page showed a picture of Edwin. Hadrian did a double take. Edwin looked younger in the picture. Probably 18. He was listed under consultant services too. With another one million gold coins.
Ok, how did that happen? And what did Edwin do? Hadrian wrote down the number of the page and flipped to the last one. There was another material receipt. Dragon scales, salamander hearts, electric eels. What had Eddy done with them? For, surely, he had been the one to utilize them.
Hadrian looked out of the window and saw that it was night now. The library in town catered to vampires and so was open even now. He wanted to avoid researching his friend, not really, but he had no choice. He couldn’t forward this to Ash if Eddy was involved.
Furthermore, he pocketed the booklet and the notebook and then picked up a sheet of paper and jolted a quick note, to let Daniel and Marisa know where he was going. Then he was off.
It was nice and warm now that the winter has left these lands. Vampires were cold-blooded, and so winter was the one season that Hadrian despised the most. Spring was not his favorite, as it was not as warm as it should be. But summer, summer was heaven for him.
But it was spring now and there was nothing he could do than wrap his clock, the one with Tommy boy stitched on it, around his body. The library gave off warm and inviting lights as he neared it.
The building was white and sterile. But old and made from bricks, rather than stone. Hadrian pushed the glass doors and saw a vampire waiting on the desk next to the door. Which made sense. If you are going to deal with vampires, hire one.
Hadrian smiled at the black-haired, tan skinned man and noted his eyes were red. Ah, a sure killer. This job must be a godsend because no vampire would hire him.
“Hello, I am scanning for information on the uses of dragon scales, salamander hearts and electric eels,” the vampire raised an eyebrow.
“Are you going to wake up a coma patient, or something?” Hadrian felt relieved to know that the ingredients were not for something too dark.
“I want all their uses. How did you know they are for coma patients?” The man rubbed the back of his head nervously.
“You didn’t hear it from me, ok?” Hadrian nodded. “There was this case in Wandermere where a healer trainee from Duria woke up the mayor’s wife. But, she woke up wrong. She needed to eat only raw meat afterwards. I hear that the mayor was still grateful and paid, but he searched high and low for a cure for his sweetheart.”
Hadrian wondered if he should keep on searching when he had gotten the answer already. So, Eddy woke up a coma patient when he was still in the Academy. That sounded just like him.
“You know what, I’d like to use your decoding machine,” but what had Thorold Hafnon done for mayor Miz? The decoding machine would tell him.
“That would be ten gold coins. Unless Its something illegal. Then we can’t service you,” the black-haired man sounded like he had repeated that speech a thousand times. Hadrian knew the protocol. Now, he would be required to show the booklet. No chance.
“Have twenty coins,” Hadrian counted them in front of the vampire and attempted to hand them over, when his hand was pushed back.
“Look, I need this job. Either do things by the protocol, or don’t do them at all,” someone who didn’t accept bribes was a rarity in Hadrian’s life. Well, Eddy and Dany wouldn’t have been tempted either, but they didn’t move in the same circles as Hadrian.
“Ok, then. What can you tell me about condensed mana and blood uses,” Hadrian attempted to get something out of the librarian. The man held up a finger and then rushed towards the index book.
His finger skimmed through names and finally, he jolted down a title. Going back, he handed the paper on which it was written to Hadrian. It read. Fifty uses of mana by Aleric Stormcrow.
“That is quite the heavy tome. You can, however, use the decoder on it for keywords. That would be ten gold coins. And I will be going with you to make sure you don’t use the decoder on anything else,” the thought had crossed Hadrian’s mind, but he stopped himself from setting out to trick the librarian.
Certainly, he would figure this out with the book. It must have something to do with vampires and necromancers. Aleric Stormcrow had been a necromancer with a finger in the management of the vampire council, despite not being a vampire himself. Hadrian just hoped that whatever this was, it was not linked to Edwin’s waking up a coma patient.
